Mona Siddiqui: Faith in Public Life

By LCILeeds

The second Hook Lecture took place in November, following on from the success of Baroness Warnock’s lecture in 2011. This year we had the pleasure of hearing Mona Siddiqui OBE FRSE FRSA. As professor of Islamic and Interreligious studies at Edinburgh University and contributor to Radio 4’s thought for the day, her subject was Faith in Public Life.

The issues she touched on were wide ranging and covered subjects such as whether it was possible for people to ‘leave their faith behind’ when entering the public sphere, the problematic divide between public and private, and the way in which law has become the main barometer of this issue, a fact reflected in the media.

At the end, plenty of room was left for questions. The diversity of contributions was encouraging—from people working on Muslim youth projects to church leaders to lecturers from the university. All the reflections were thoughtful and demonstrated a deep engagement with the questions being raised.

If you were at the event, let us know what it made you think about by leaving a comment.